The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 41, July 1937 - April, 1938 Page: 278

southwestern Historical Quarterly

BOOK NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bastrop. By Margaret Belle Jones. (Bastrop, Texas, 1937. Pp.
75. No index, no notes, no table of contents.)
The author of this pamphlet disclaims any attempt at writing
a history of Bastrop. She rather claims to have made a compila-
tion of material relating to the history of that most interesting
Texas town. Being a compilation of materials relating to widely
separated periods of Bastrop's colorful history the little pamphlet
gives the first impression of a highly disorganized mass of facts
and reminiscences, but careful perusal reveals at least a semblance
of continuity. The author has given us some bits of interesting
and valuable information about the incorporation of the town of
Mina which name was later changed to Bastrop; the life and
achievements of Baron de Bastrop for whom the town and county
were named; contract marriages in and around Bastrop; Bastrop's
part in the Texas Revolution; early industries at Bastrop; dis-
tinguished men of this pioneer town including General Edward
Burleson, John W. Bunton, T. J. Hardeman, and George W. Jones;
and early life and early schools in that vicinity, including such
schools as Bastrop Academy and Bastrop Military Institute.
The feature of this book, however, which gives it the greatest
appeal is the section devoted to a hitherto unpublished cycle of
twenty-two letters written by the Terry Rangers, William and
James Nicholson. These letters give glimpses into the intimate
life of the Confederate soldier--his heartaches, his sufferings, his
loneliness, and finally his attitude of utter hopelessness during
the last years of the War. It is this phase of the book which gives
it something more than local color and makes it eminently worthy
of a place in any Texas collection.
CLAUDE ELLIOTT.
Southwest Texas State Teachers College.
The Texas State Historical Association has received the initial
number of The Huntington Library Quarterly, published at San
Marino, California, by the Huntington Library, under date of
October, 1937. The Announcement contains the statement that
the new periodical is to be "a medium for the publication of articles

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